Description

The environmental and economic need to increase recycling rates is a principal driving force behind technological innovation in the 21st century. Waste rubber products are an important resource that the global community is focusing on to achieve vital improvements in sustainability and meet important life cycle goals. This comprehensive review, with extensive up-to-date referencing, covers all aspects of rubber recycling, from its world market to the many novel technologies and processes that have been developed to re-use the material to manufacture added-value products. One objective of this book is to describe the techniques used to devulcanise waste rubber so it can be reprocessed into high specification products. The production of rubber crumb from waste rubber products and its use to manufacture a wide range of products are also covered. Testing methods and quality protocols essential to ensuring rubber recycling can take its place in today’s quality conscious world are described. Also included is using waste rubber to generate energy and manufacture new materials such as fuel oils and recovered carbon black. This book is essential reading for anyone in industry or academia requiring up-to-date information on technical developments in rubber recycling and knowledge of the many options that exist for the re-use of this valuable commodity.

About the Author

Martin Forrest began his career in the rubber industry as a rubber technologist with James Walker & Co. Ltd in 1977 in Woking, UK. He stayed at Walkers, a manufacturer of packings, gaskets and seals, until 1983 when he left to pursue a full time MSc in Polymer Science and Chemical Technology at the London School of Polymer Technology (LSPT) and a PhD in Polymer Chemistry at Loughborough University.

He started work at Rapra Technology Ltd in 1988 as a Consultant and was the principal contact for many years for projects involving the analysis of rubber compounds and rubber based products. Such projects included failure diagnosis work, reverse engineering to facilitate R&D programmes, and studies to assist companies with regulatory submissions.

In addition to consultancy work, he has carried out senior technical roles in collaborative research projects. He was the technical leader for two UK government funded research projects (DevulCO2 and ReMould) concerned with the recycling and re-use of waste rubber and he was also involved in the EU funded project, Cryosinter, which investigated the possibility of using waste rubber crumb to manufacture new, added value products.

At present he is a Principal Consultant in the Consultancy Group at Smithers Rapra where he manages a wide range of projects, including those that focus on the recycling of rubbers and plastics.